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The Chinese would like to divert the Brahamaputra water right next to the great bend just before it enters Arunachal Pradesh and send it over to mainland china beyond Burma. But the Yellow River already flows in the northern part of that area, so they'll likely want to send the waters down south.

This is much more feasible and within reach of today's tech and engineering levels for them

Sorry, now I understand, you mean SE China. Ok. possible but there are just too many mountain bottoms to tunnel under. No easy path. Plus the gradiant is upwards at least initially hence the water will need constant, continuous high power pumping at multiple points. More energy will be spent than that can be reasonably be generated.

I think desalination and pumping from the sea will be a simpler and cheaper option.

NEW DELHI: Seeking to fast-track exercising of India's rights under Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), the Central Water Commission (CWC) has finalised detailed project report of the Ujh multi-purpose project and submitted it to the Jammu and Kashmir government for its evaluation so that the construction can begin as early as possible.

The project, which is to come up in Kathua district, will store around 0.65 million acre feet (MAF) of water of the river Ujh (a tributary of river Ravi) to irrigate 30,000 hectares of land and produce more than 200MW of hydro-power.

Under the IWT which was signed with Pakistan in 1960, water of Ravi is allocated to India. It, however, took the CWC 16 years to complete the process of detailed project report (DPR) after getting a formal nod to do so in the year 2001.

"The DPR was fast-tracked pursuant to decision taken in the meeting of the task force on Indus Waters, chaired by principal secretary to Prime Minister, in December 2016. This will help India to utilise a part of the flow that presently goes across border unutilised", said an official statement.

The task force, chaired by Nripendra Mishra (principal secretary to PM), was formed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held a review meeting on the IWT - a water distribution pact with Pakistan - in the aftermath of series of cross-border terror strikes including Uri attack in 2016. It was decided in the meeting that India would explore all options to utilise the maximum water of the Indus river system which is legally given to it under the 1960 Treaty.Under the IWT, water of eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) is allocated to India. Though the country is under obligation to let flow the water of the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab) to Pakistan, it has rights to use the water from the western rivers for its domestic purposes, irrigation and generating hydro-electric power.

Under the Treaty, India is permitted to construct storage capacities on the western rivers up to 3.6 million acre feet (MAF) for various purpose. Accordingly, an expert panel of the environment ministry has recently cleared the 800 MW Bursar hydro-electric project which is one of the three projects on river Chenab and its tributary which India wants to complete in a time-bound manner.

The Bursar hydro-electric project is a storage project in which the flow of water can be regulated not only to the benefit of this project but all downstream projects such as Pakal Dul, Dul Hasti, Rattle, Baglihar, Sawalkot and Salal hydroelectric projects.

LAHORE: The 969-megawatt (MW) Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project – a hydel power generating scheme of strategic importance – is in its final stage of completion, a press release issued by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) said on Friday.

It further listed completion of dam and start of water filling in the reservoir, completion of water way system comprising 51.5-kilometre long tunnels, installation of turbines, generators, transformers and other electro-mechanical equipment in the powerhouse, and dry testing of electro-mechanical equipment, as the infrastructural operational ‘milestones’ achieved.

“The transmission line by the NTDC is expected to be completed by the end of this month, while water filling (pressurisation) of water way system will commence during first week of January 2018,” the release said.

India and Pakistan have reached an impasse over issues of the Kishenganga and Ratle power plants. Their last meeting in the “good offices” of the World Bank last August and September yielded no progress and there has been no movement on the Indus Waters Treaty since.

There are two opposing points of view regarding the forum to resolve concerns regarding the design of the two power plants. Pakistan has moved to establish an international court of arbitration (CoA) while India argues that the matters must be heard by a neutral expert. Reports indicate that India has refused four different options of forums presented by the Bank.

The impasse has persisted since July 2016, when it was discussed at the secretary-level talks. A better understanding has been made difficult by the deterioration in bilateral relations following the Uri attack on September 18, 2016. India had accused Pakistan of masterminding the attack near the Line of Control. A week later, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi commented that “blood and water cannot flow together” while cancelling, for several months, scheduled meetings of the Indus Water Commission. Some reports indicated that India was even reconsidering their participation in the treaty.

What is clear is that the treaty is being dragged into the broader Indo-Pak relationship. It is necessary to understand the tactics that are being used against Pakistan and how we can overcome them.

Pakistan faced a setback with the decision of the neutral expert appointed in the Baglihar case in 2007. It had claimed that the Baglihar plant did not conform with the criteria prescribed in the treaty and, more crucially, that gated spillways in the design would allow India to control the flow of River Kishenganga, by way of drawdown flushing, in violation of India’s obligation to “let flow” the waters of the western river. Rejecting Pakistan’s arguments, the neutral expert determined that the conditions of the site, including the hydrology, sediment yield, topography, geology and seismicity, required a gated spillway.

However, in the Kishenganga arbitration case (2013), the ICA observed that the treaty gave no indication that a neutral expert’s determination had precedential value beyond the scope of the particular issue before it. On the other hand, it clarified that its own decisions would be binding with respect to the questions presented before it. In doing so, the ICA restricted the impacts of the Baglihar determination to the facts of the case and averted, in the words of Ijaz Hussain, an “enormous catastrophe” for Pakistan.

In Kishenganga, the CoA was called to determine the “ultimately legal” nature of the drawdown flushing for sediment control. It held that “the issue of drawdown flushing at the [Kishenganga Dam] would in all probability not comply with the flow restrictions of...the treaty” and “identified at least one operative provision that prohibits the depletion of dead storage for drawdown flushing”. By recalling that “flushing is… one of a number of techniques available for sediment control”, the ICA elaborated “that India’s right to generate hydroelectric power on the western rivers can meaningfully be exercised without drawdown flushing extends beyond the specifics of the [Kishenganga Dam] to other, future, run-of-river plants”.

The Kishenganga Award has also clarified that requests for the appointment of a neutral expert cannot not serve to impose procedural hurdles in accessing the CoA. The court held that nothing in the treaty requires questions to be solely decided by a neutral expert first, and that it could also consider such questions.

The Kishenganga Award effectively blocks India from benefitting from the determination in the Baglihar case by restricting all future dam designs. The intransigent Indian position in the current impasse can, therefore, be seen as a desperate attempt to force an adjudication by a neutral expert instead of a CoA, as the forum of the neutral expert is the only place within the treaty where India can possibly expect a favourable outcome on the drawdown flushing design of its future dams.

The impasse must also be seen in light of the deterioration of Indo-Pak relations following the Uri attack in September 2016. India immediately blamed Pakistan for the attack. But it did not respond to Pakistan’s earlier formal request to establish a CoA for the Kishenganga and Ratle disputes until October 2016 when it responded by requesting that a neutral expert be appointed instead.

On November 10, 2016, India criticised the Bank “for its decision to favour Pakistan” in relation to the establishment of the CoA. The Bank has a limited procedural role in relation to the treaty, but was now, nonetheless, caught up in the imbroglio.

A week later at a political rally on the banks of the Ravi, Modi declared that he would not let a drop of the waters of River Ravi to flow into Pakistan. The waters of the Ravi are already allocated to India under the treaty and the elections in Indian Punjab – in which a BJP alliance lagged behind a resurgent Congress Party – were on the horizon. On December 10, the Bank called for a “pause” in the treaty proceedings as “both processes initiated by the respective countries create[d] a risk of contradictory outcomes that could potentially endanger the treaty”.

On March 8, 2017, the Indian National Investigation Agency found the two accused “Pakistani boys” had accidentally wandered across the borders and were not, in fact, involved in any terrorist activity. During the same week, the Congress Party trounced the BJP alliance in the Punjab election and India announced that it would resume treaty talks with Pakistan.

In this context, it can be seen that the Indian government used the Uri attack as a political distraction to prevent Pakistan from approaching the COA. Its ratcheting up the rhetoric on the treaty by cancelling scheduled talks and calling the Bank biased can also been seen as a failed attempt to rouse political support in the Punjab election. Pakistan must resist the forces attempting to draw the treaty – a technical document best left untouched by politicians – into the broader Indo-Pak relationship.

The country must see through the ruse of India’s insistence that only a neutral expert should be appointed for the Kishenganga and Ratle disputes. Its stance that the disputes should be adjudicated by the ICA rests on firm legal foundations. Drawdown flushing is against the terms of the treaty.

Pakistan must not be distracted from its negotiation position through India’s political strategy or the Bank’s response to it. The Bank already has considerable investments – and influence – in the country, which should not be allowed to influence our position. By keeping the Bank’s role limited to its procedural mandate, Pakistan can reduce the risk of the international body employing its influence to determine the course or outcome of future treaty negotiations.

ISLAMABAD: In a major setback the much-touted Rs500.343 billion Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project with capacity to generate 969MW may not be able to come on stream even in the third week of March as the retaining wall of its rock filled dam has got shifted from its original position.

The faulty design has led to the shifting of the retaining wall of the dam, a top source told The News while referring to viewpoint of the contractor of the project about this ugly happening. Confirmed by three top officials of Wapda and Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Company, the project is going to be delayed by June-July and it will not be possible to have electricity from the project in March.

And more importantly, the C-I tunnel will take 3-4 months more to get ready as concrete lining of the tunnel is still under construction and the communication system between the three sites C-1, C-2 and C-3 is yet to be established; so far mobile phones are being used to maintain the connectivity between the officials working on the three sites.

However, Wapda Chairman Gen Muzzammil Hussain (retd) emphatically denied any damage to the retaining wall of the dam saying that some vested interests want the delay of the project, but it will come on stream in March, this year with first turbine generating electricity. To a question on delay in C-1 tunnel, he brushed aside the impression saying: “We have entered the phase of fine tuning of everything in the project”.

When contacted, the CEO of the NJHPC Brig Zarin (R) said when retaining wall of the dam was loaded to design height 1017 meter, a slight movement was observed 18mm in top slab by end November 2017. Mitigation measures were taken and 90 percent work on it was completed. He said it is usual in dams when loaded and was in no way affecting our schedule. He stressed claiming that the first turbine of 242 MW will start generating electricity on March 23.

About the C-1 tunnel, he said when we removed ventilation system some 48 km long, we faced ventilation problem at C-1 tunnel which was foreseen, so we took timely remedial measures. As far as concrete lining is concerned, he said yes the concrete lining is under way and to this effect 9 meter concreting is left at C-1 which is last pour and it will take another two days to get finished.

The pressurisation of waterway system from tail end is in progress since January 5 as planned. However, after concrete lining, the uphill task of cleaning the tunnel will get started. About the communication system between the three sites, he admitted that the state-of-the-art system based on latest fibre optic is being laid down and to this effect the contractor has started its work and hopefully the system will be installed by May. However, the unit control panels have also been established for communication purposes.

After the new management has taken over the project, it managed to get the extension of one year by January 31, 2018 to complete the project. The new management first expelled William Bobbs—the consultant and then fired the second consultant Mr Peter. The experts are saying that their expulsion has exposed the new management to delaying of the project.

Rs 1,000 crore would be spent in the first phase. The loan amount for the second phase will be provided in April.

Additional Chief Engineer (Water Resources) Ravi Solanki said that restructuring and repair of canals built under the Indira Gandhi Canal Project will be carried out. It will curb water losses and water locking problems so that farmers get ample water for irrigation.

Solanki said the project will be completed in five years.

A flood management system for Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and Ghaggar rivers will also be developed under the project, Solanki added.

ISLAMABAD: After 52 years, Pakistan has experienced mammoth reduction in the Jhelum water inflows from 8,000 cusecs to 1,900 cusecs on Sunday (Feb19) but on Monday it slightly scaled up to 2,000 cusecs, raising the eyebrows of many in the country as all other rivers have normal flows.

However, a senior official of Pakistan’s Permanent Commission of Indus Waters (PCIW) attributed the decline in water inflows in Jhelum River to less rainfall, below average snowfall and low temperatures in the catchment area which is situated in Indian Held Kashmir.

Asked if India is in process of filling the reservoir of the just-completed Kishenganga hydropower project, he said that it depends upon the rise in temperature in the catchment area and the water flows are not gaining the momentum at the moment. However, water experts apprehended that the massive dip in water inflows may be the result of filling of Kishenganga Dam by Indians as other rivers have normal flows. IRSA spokesman Khalid Idrees Rana said that historically water flows in Jhelum river stay at 7,000-8,000 cusecs per day in these days, but now they have dropped down to an alarmingly level of just 2,000 cusecs.

However, the data shows during peak winter season water flows hovered in the range of 7,000-8,000 cusecs and specifically on December 26, 2017, the water flows stayed at 7,900 cusecs, but in January 2018, the flows dropped massively to be in the range of 4600 to 4,000 cusecs. By mid- February, when spring season starts approaches, the water flows drastically went down raising many a eyebrows. This means that India had started the process of filling of dam from January, 2018.

However, PCIW is totally unaware of the filling of the dam by India as it has failed to get information of any existing and future projects being erected on Pakistan’s rivers in the last four years particularly after Pakistan going to World Bank asking for the constitution of the court of arbitration (CoA) on the designs of Kishenganga and Ratle hydropower projects. The World Bank has failed to constitute the court of arbitration on account of India’s opposition as New Delhi is insisting that the matter should be resolved at the forum of Neutral Expert. Since then, Modi government is keeping Pakistan in the dark about the design of the future projects on eastern rivers. So Pakistan is not in a position to verify if India is filling the Kishenganga Dam.

ISLAMABAD: The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has stopped water releases from Mangla after the reservoir’s level reached the dead level.

According to the letter to hydel operation chief engineer by Mangla Resident Engineer, the water level at the Mangla reservoir has reached the dead level as per the recent data of Survey of Pakistan Datum (SPD).

In order to maintain the level of 1050ft the inflows and outflows have been equalised, the letter further states. Presently one unit is on bars at 30 MW with a discharge of 2200 (cusec feet) CFs through Mangla power station.

According to Wapda, discharge of 1280 CFs is being made through Jari valve (with max. permissible opening) in line with IRSA directives.

How will filling of the Kishenganga dam affect the water flow in the Jhelum hain ji?It will affect the water flow in the Neelum, on which Pakistan now has a dam built by the Chinese at Noseri.If Mangla is not filling up, they should release water from Noseri

LAHORE: Neelum Jhelum hydropower project is expected to start electricity generation by the end of the current month as water filling in head race tunnel started on Thursday.

Chairman Muzammil Hussain of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) said the first unit will start electricity generation by end March, followed by the second, third and fourth units with one month interval, respectively.

“It is a matter of satisfaction that following electricity generation from Golen Gol hydropower project in January and Tarbela 4th extension hydropower project in February this year, the third hydropower project of Wapda i.e. Neelum Jhelum is also going to start electricity generation by the end of current month,” Hussain said, addressing a ceremony to celebrate the water filling in the head race tunnel.

The project is expected to provide around five billion units low-cost hydroelectricity to the grid every year. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at Rs50 billion.

The head race tunnel is a component of 52-kilometre long water way system of the project that has been constructed underground in the high mountain areas to divert water from the reservoir to the power house of the project.

Subsequent to filling of the head race tunnel, wet commissioning of the first generating unit will be carried out.

Wapda chairman underlined the significance of pressurisation (water filling) of the head race tunnel and congratulated the project management, the consultants and the contractors on achieving this critical target.

He also lauded their concerted efforts towards implementation of the project. “The long-awaited Neelum Jhelum hydropower project is at last about to see light of the day because most of the works – critical in nature – have already been completed,” he said.

The works included construction of dam, de-sander, water way system including head and tail race tunnels, underground power house, transformers hall, switchyard and transmission line to evacuate electricity generated by the project.

Besides installing electro-mechanical equipments, most of their tests have also been successfully conducted.

On utilisation of water and hydropower resources in the country, Hussain said “Wapda has been implementing a two-pronged strategy for the purpose”.

“Under the strategy, not only the under-construction projects are being completed in the shortest possible time but new projects are also being initiated in both water and hydropower sectors,” he added.

“Wapda is trying its best to award contracts for Mohmand and Diamer Basha dams within a year to supplement significantly towards existing water storage and hydropower generation capacities in the country.”

Bandipora: First unit (110 MW) of the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project of NHPC at Bandipora, Jammu & Kashmir has been successfully test synchronized with the grid on 01.03.2018.

The Kishanganga project envisages diversion of water of Kishanganga River to underground Power House through 23.25 KM long Head Race Tunnel to generate 1713 million units per annum. The Project is covered under the Indus Waters Treaty signed between India and Pakistan.

NHPC has 7 power stations in Jammu & Kashmir with an installed capacity of 2009 MW. It is also pertinent to mention that NHPC through its joint venture company, CVPPPL with JKSPDC and PTC (India) Limited is executing three hydroelectric projects –Pakal Dul, Kiru and Kwar– at Chenab River Basin

ISLAMABAD: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Friday said that the Tarbela dam had attained its ‘dead level’ of 1386 feet, and Punjab and Sindh might face shortfall of approximately 70 to 80 per cent in their canal systems in the coming five to ten days.

However, the shortages might be reduced in the wake of impending rainfall and with the increase of temperature being foreseen in catchment areas, says an Irsa press release.

“Today, Tarbela has attained its dead level of 1386 feet; therefore in the next 48 hours, river supplies will be adjusted as under:Punjab will get a share of 4,000 cusecs from River Indus and 14,000 cusecs from Jhelum-Chenab zone;Sindh will gain 14,100 cusecs; Balochistan (4,000 cusecs) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (2,400 cusecs) so a total 38,400 cusecs will be released.

Seasonal shortages for both Punjab and Sindh would remain at 36 per cent as announced by Irsa at the start of the Rabi 2017-18 season.

In a clarification about a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Water held on February 28, 2018, Irsa said, in addition to other matters, water related issues pertaining to the authority were also discussed threadbare.

In this regard, some section of the press published that the Irsa chairman showed inability to close the Chashma-Jhelum (CJ) Link Canal as well as implementation of the Water Apportionment Accord 1991.

However, it is clarified that the Irsa Chairman took the stance that any member of Irsa or its chairman alone cannot take any decision in the authority, as all the issues in the authority in respect of the implementation of the Water Accord is settled by the votes of majority as embodied under Chapter II, Clause 8(2) of IRSA Act XXII of 1992. As such Irsa chairman single-handedly cannot take any decision in the authority.

Irsa was established in regulating and monitoring of water sources of Indus River in accordance with the water accord among the provinces. Till to date, Irsa is performing its functions vested under IRSA Act XXII of 1992 in true spirit and letter.

Irsa is distributing waters with full consent of the provinces after approval of its advisory committee, comprising all Irsa members, members Water and Power, Wapda, chief engineering adviser, Federal Flood Commission chairman and Irrigation and Agriculture secretaries of all federating units.

Regarding operationalisation of the three-tier formula which comprises para 14(b), para 2 and para 4 of the accord, it is clarified that the formula was derived in 2003 with the consensus of all stakeholders in Irsa advisory committee meeting under the chair of Nasar Ali Rajput, the then member, Irsa, Federal/chairman Irsa who belonged to Sindh.

In the presence of the CCI, discussions at different forums may aggravate the situation and would definitely ignite unrest among the federating units that should be avoided in the best national interact.

Regarding opening of any channel/link, it is clarified that from October 1, 2017 to February 22, 2018, Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal remained closed and Punjab was directed to cater for its Trimmu-Sidhnai and Panjnad Canal systems’ requirements from the Mangla Dam.

But when the dam touched its dead level, the availability in the Jhelum-Chenab zone reduced to 12,000 cusecs against Punjab’s share of 25,000 cusecs; thus, there was no other source, except Indus to save standing crops of southern Punjab.

Therefore, Irsa decided with majority votes in an authority meeting held on February 22, 2018, to immediately open the CJ Link Canal with a discharge of 4,000 cusecs as long as water is available in the Tarbela Dam.

This season, the provinces of Punjab and Sindh received excessive water with respect to allocations made by Irsa while Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa received less water despite the fact that both the provinces, being smaller, are exempted from sharing of shortages.

Irsa categorically clarified that the authority is implementing the Water Accord 1991 in letter and spirit without any external pressure. Any province, if aggrieved from any decision of Irsa may approach the Council of Common Interest (CCI).

Irsa emphasised that against the backdrop of climate change, less capacity of Tarbela and Mangla dams to store water, the water availability situation would remain volatile and the country’s water economy would remain prone to unexpected flash floods, and sudden droughts.

manjgu wrote:Just met a v high official of the Pakal Dul project..he said project on course and GOI is fast tracking ( giving danda) the work..all tendering complete .. dam..powerhouse.. only tender for TBM remains..if the TBM can work with existing geology it will further shorten the time.. they have timeline of 66 months to complete .. 1000 MW with almost 20% of storage capacity of what is allowed to India as per IWT. Bursar dam work not on course..

he said once the pakal dul becomes operational we can cook paki goose for good. if pakal dul and sawalkot can be done then we effectively choke the water on the 3 rivers allocated to napakis..he said the road to busrar dam is still not there and one has to hike ( was it 2 days ) to reach proposed dam site. but what gladdened my heart was that there was presure from GOI to get going on these projects.. ( wondering why we didnt do all these years).

The inevitable is happening. The last time a mightly civilizational river (viz., Saraswati) dried up, people mass-migrated eastwards to the Ganga-Jamuna plains. What will happen to the population when the Indus River system dries up? Which direction will these momeens migrate? Does India has enough resources or will power to stop the barbarians at the gates?

Finally after a wait of 9 years, 330 MW Kishan Ganga hydroelectric project in Bandipora district is set to be commissioned by April with Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to inaugurate it, an official informed.

“The work on all the components of the project has been completed and two machines [two units of 110 MW each] are undergoing final tests while the third machine is in advance stage of erection. The project is expected to be commissioned by April 2018,” said a senior executive of NHPC.

He said that Prime Minister Office has been monitoring the progress of the project. “And it is likely that PM will inaugurate the project in the next month.”

Sources informed that in order to clear decks for the commissioning of the project, union secretary power, A. K Bhalla inspected the progress of the work on its various components on March 10.

“He commended the team for its hard work and dedication in constructing the project in such a difficult condition and hoped that the project will start commercial operation soon,” officials add.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s major water reservoirs are at a dead level after 15 years, according to the Indus River System Authority (IRSA). The experts claim that availability of water in the country is decreasing at an alarming rate with its demand increasing at the same pace.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted that chances are high that rainfall will remain below than normal in April and May and temperatures are likely to increase one to two degree than usual.

According to the PMD website, the current level of water at Mangala Dam is 1,050 feet and its dead level is the same. The inflow of water from the dam, was recorded 12,225 cusecs and outflow at 13,401 cusecs, which has been the lowest ever recorded since 2009. Similarly, Tarbela dam current water level and dead level is 1,386 feet, which is lowest since 2009. The inflow and outflow of water is 16,500 cusecs, which is also lowest since 2009.

IRSA spokesperson told The Express Tribune that both the major water reservoirs of the country, Terbela dam and Mangla dam are at dead level since February 22 this year and will continue to remain like this.

“Pakistan is facing such a situation after 15 years and it is expected that it will be further prolonged till mid of June,” he said and added that Pakistan had received below average snowfall in catchment areas this year, therefore it seems like that even snow melting process will also not help much to improve the alarming situation.

The spokesperson said that water shortage has direct impact on agriculture of the country and a slight shortage causes major losses. He added that IRSA has anticipated 40 percent water shortage in the early Kahrif season and the impact of global warming is having an adverse impact on Pakistan

“Unfortunately Pakistan is not ready to deal with the grave impact of climate change despite the situation turning to worse with each passing day. The best option to avoid its negative impact is to have more and more dams,” he said.

“It is expected that Pakistan may receive below average showers in April and May and high temperatures than normal. In May water demand will gradually increase with rise in the temperature,” Chief Met Office, Dr Ghulam Rasul told The Express Tribune.

He said that glacier melting starts in April but its water flows only in Terbela dam. “Though under the impact of climate change, Pakistan could receive a heavy shower, which could improve water situation in the reservoirs as such ‘unexpected or unusual’ weather events are occurring frequently,” he added.

As Pakistan hurtles towards the close of the first two decades of the 21st century — proudly showing off its new and improved Big Boy WMDs, its numerous shiny shopping plazas that spring up almost daily across urban centres, not to mention imported luxury car showrooms — it appears to have forgotten the basics.

London-based non-profit organisation Water Aid’s recent report — The Water Gap: The State of the World’s Water 2018 — ranks Pakistan nine out of 10 in term of lowest access levels to potable water close to home. Moreover, it finds that almost 22 million have no access to clean drinking water either inside or near their homes. This is not to say that no progress has been made. It has. The 44 million Pakistanis who did not have access to clean water back in 2000 now do. But much more needs to be done. Particularly when it comes to the state apparatus coming up with an action plan to deal with shrinking water tables and impending water scarcity.

The tragedy is that much of the stress on the region’s water tables is due to waste. In November 2017, the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) found that Pakistan dumps water worth $21 billion into the sea due to a lack of water conservation systems. In addition, it said that the country would need three Mangla-sized dams to counter this. The country is also home to one of the most inefficient irrigation systems in the world. The Barki Institute of Public Policy Netsol noted in its 2017 annual report on the state of the national economy that this led to 60 percent of water passing through it being lost due to mismanagement.

The problems created by declining water tables are compounded by lack of access to basic sanitation; not to mention increasing pollution. According to Water Aid, Pakistan is the seventh worst country when it comes to accessing safe toilets. Open-air defecation results in contamination of ground water sources — causing water borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea; with the latter killing 53,000 Pakistani children every year. And then there is question of heavy metals. Meaning that arsenic levels in groundwater are alarmingly high. With up to 60 million Pakistanis inadvertently consuming arsenic concentrations of 50-60 micrograms per litre; or 200 micrograms per litre in southern regions. WHO recommends that safe drinking water should contain no more than 10 micrograms per litre. Thus the issue of shrinking water tables can no longer remain on the backburner. Not when the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) warns of an acute water shortages by 2025; which would signal disaster for a country so highly dependent on agriculture to keep its economy afloat.

Thus the incoming government must take Water Aid’s warning seriously, at both the local and regional level. Meaning that cooperation with India is a must. Our all-weather ally China can be called upon to provide much needed infrastructure development and monetary assistance towards this end.

Considering how the political leadership across the great divide has suddenly remembered the sanctity as the Constitution now that elections are in sight — it would do well to also keep in mind that the latter ensures the right to life. For which potable water is a prerequisite.

The biggest threat to Pakistan’s near-term future comes from within. In other words, the longer the country continues on the current path whereby it splashes cash on maintaining the world’s fastest-growing nuclear stockpile, say, the direr the future will be for this already resource-fragile nation.

Surely an Islamic Republic and IEDological Muslim State like the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan would welcome being transformed to the desert-like landscape of the two most significant locations for the Mohammadden belief namely Makkah and Medina, So why are many in the Islamic Republic complaining about India when Indian actions are helping them achieve their ambitions?

Actually there is a devil in the details of IWT and the problem is in the interpretation of Annexure D and Annexure E. Pakistan is being converted slowly into a desert through the tacit application of these two annexes of IWT.

Looking forward to the day even this stream of sewage is stopped:

The only water body which India willingly traverse towards Pakistan is a pollutants Stricken, effluent loaded, hudiari drain which is playing havoc to the arable lands of Lahore and the bed of ravi.

Meanwhile India should provide Non-Punjabi Provinces of the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan 800% diplomatic and moral support to kill Punjab Water Gluttony and Punjab water theft via projecst like Kalabagh which this author is touting.

Indian Union Minister for Transport and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari said on Monday that India will dam three Uttarakhand rivers to curb flow of water to Pakistan, Express News reported.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of an agriculture summit in Haryana, the union minister said the rivers will be dammed to ensure the stored water could be used to overcome water shortages in the event of poor rainfall. Gadkari said that while the three rivers allocated to Pakistan under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty constituted a separate issue, India had first right to water from the Uttarakhand rivers as they were imperative for national development.

“This is why we will build three different dams and store water. This will remedy water shortages across Indian Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan,” he said.

Gadkari added that India had been awarded exclusive rights over three rivers courtesy the Indus Waters Treaty. He said India had not been able to utilise water from the rivers in accordance with its needs. The ‘extra’ water flowing to Pakistan constituted a breach of the treaty, he said.

ali is shia, so they are easy targets and easier scapegoats in case of perceived mess ups.

The pakis expect their water commissioners to come to India, slay all the Indian negotiators, eat a free lunch after ensuring that a big food parcel is packed for ammi and abba jan, and return victorious to pukiland every time with iron clad guarantees of 100 % water from all the six rivers to be given by India and in perpetuity so that the unwashed islamic millions can wash at their sharia mandated leisure.

Anything less is blasphemy and punishable by death, following frenzied accusations of collaborating with enemy India and selling out the paki's pure islamic interests for money and hence the hurried and de rigueur exodus of paki water commissioners to canada.

The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) dates from 1960, long before climate change and global warming were almost daily headline news. A lot of water has flowed under many bridges both literal and metaphorical but the IWT has managed to endure, and Pakistan and India have not fought a war over water. With the IWT almost 60 years old now it is showing its age and events on the ground are moving faster than the treaty can be revised, which anyway is a complicated process involving global entities such as the World Bank.

The IWT is once again to the fore as the Indian minister for transport and water resources said on Monday, March 26th that India is proposing to dam the three Uttarakhand rivers in order to curb the flow into Pakistan, and has triggered some of Pakistan’s darker fears in doing so. The Indian aim is to increase storage to overcome difficulties associated with lowered levels of precipitation (Pakistan also has issues/concerns about storage and is going ahead with the disputed Bhasha dam as a result) — but inevitably less water is going to flow into the irrigation systems and fields of Pakistan.

The Indian argument is that it has a right to dam these rivers on the grounds that it is imperative for national development. It had not hitherto been able to utilise water from the three rivers for its own needs and that Pakistan was ‘benefitting’ from the ‘extra’ water contrary to the spirit of the IWT. Given the bellicose and confrontational position of the Indian government under Mr Modi, it may be that this proposal is little more than a rattling of watery sabres. Dams are large projects that take years to finance, plan and build and there is going to be no quick fix to the Uttarakhand rivers issue, but Pakistan needs to move fast on the diplomatic front and energise the arbitration mechanisms that exist within the IWT if it is not to be wrong-footed. There is now a heightened urgency for a root-and-branch review of the IWT and Pakistan cannot afford to dither at the water’s edge.

They don't read the instrument of accession, they don't read the UN resolutions and they don't read the provisions of the IWT.

The nanga pakis have always depended on a hook to pressurize the GoI to accede to their demands, hooks like the saudis, the gulf oil oligarchies and even iran, at times when it suited them, hooks that primarily utilized the foolish and pliable Indian sunni mullahs to ratchet up the communal tensions in India.

This time around, their phata pajamas are not even covering their bare butts from the international glare, and their cheeni friends have no hooks in India.

The Pakis are shit scared that this treaty which got them a windfall will either be abrogated or be renegotiated by Modi. Different 'anal' ysts have had their undies in twists and have incorrectly mentioned that under the Vienna convention we can treat this as an act of war and we are atami quwaat and jazbaa and amma bachao .......

Vips wrote:The Pakis are shit scared that this treaty which got them a windfall will either be abrogated or be renegotiated by Modi. Different 'anal' ysts have had their undies in twists and have incorrectly mentioned that under the Vienna convention we can treat this as an act of war and we are atami quwaat and jazbaa and amma bachao .......

they lie, cheat and try to fool not only us but also themselves by a very selective/slanted reading of history, geography as well as any document that they get their illiterate hands on.

Their water commissioners are all the time in real fear for their lives. No one knows which fool politician or self styled beardo mullah will explode in an impotent rage and call for their heads accusing them of gaddari.